I think it's a good question to ask Op, it creates a knowledge gap, and from there people can learn. I don't think the OP was intended to offend. I've had many knowledge deficits regarding birth and so many threads have increased my learning.

Thanks opti I thought it would be good to discuss both of these in relation to the other, comparable or not. I want to know more, and I learn from discussion.

Both can lead to death. Both require hard work and persistence and often psychological treatment to overcome. Both can leave a person in bad health even once the person has recovered. In those ways, the 2 can be compared. In other ways, they are totally different things that cannot be compared.

ivebeen at both ends of the scale, and i honestly think its HARDER to be overweight. i have trouble losing weight in a healthy way, rather than just not eating.
also i was always told how great i looked when i was underweight.
now, only by my fan club.

BigRedV I completely agree that there's far too many people making fun of "fat" people but I have also seen many threads and comments teasing "skinny" people. At work I used to get told I'm "so thin like a pencil" and if I "stood sideways nobody would see me" - and I've ALWAYS been within a healthy weight range, I just have a petite frame! I used to go home BAWLING with tears because when I was pregnant I was constantly called "a stick with a beach ball under her shirt".

There are people who say "give the girl a hamburger", that's actually a really common phrase. And people who tease "anorexics" and accuse smaller framed women of being "anorexic". It happens. A lot.

I'm not saying all of that to take away from the hurt that comes with the teasing of being overweight, I just wanted to point out that people get teased for being "too big" and ALSO "too small".

I'm often surprised at how much emphasis people put on weight both ways

I think that since anorexia is a mental disorder based on issues outside of food - i don't think its comparable to obesity at all.

To me, the appropriate 'opposite' of obesity would be people who don't eat for *non-weight gain related reasons* (laziness, time restraints, etc) rather than because they want to lose weight.
This is me. i'm not anorexic. i may join in discussions about weight, but end of the day i cbf what i weigh. But i have a relationship with food that is the exact opposite of someone who is obese because of bad choices. I make bad choices.

If i'm hungry, i will try to find food (often after letting my hunger build for a long time), but often become bored of the food selection i have, so simply choose not to eat, rather than eat something unhealthy. If i have time pressure, instead of going for fast food, i will skip a meal because i didn't feel like fast food any way. Or i may have an apple as a meal - not because its 'only' a set number of calories, but because i just didn't have the time/desire to make myself a proper meal.

THIS i believe is comparable to people who are obese due to lifestyle reasons.
and neither should EVER be compared to anorexia i think that's offensive to everyone.

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I have suffered both. Both (for me) have been mental illnesses. Both debilitating. Both took over my life & my mind and impaired my judgement.

My experience as an anorexic was that I was 'acceptable' to society, not judged harshly but treated kindly as a person with a disease and constantly told that I looked 'good' and that I didn't need to do this to myself.

My experience as a morbidly obese person was that I was 'unacceptable' to society, judged as simply lazy, gross, uneducated, dirty & lacking in will power. Told that I was hideous, disgraceful and 'should do something about myself'.

How does one go from being anorexic to morbidly obese? Well, for me it's simple, they are both diseases of the mind. I am compelled to act one way or another without any rhyme or reason. I have a complex mental make up that gives me a highly addictive personality and it's just pot luck what my mind 'latches' onto in different stages of life. I have also suffered anxiety, depression, drug addiction, alcohol addiction. It's just the way my brain 'works' I guess.

This is the first time in my life (this pregnancy) where I have felt free of any of my impulses. I am petrified of not being pregnant anymore as I don't know what my next battle is going to be!

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